Fate of the Jedi: Redemption
by Onimiman
Summary: I was originally going to submit it for the Lomin Ale Cantina Light Bright Fanfic Challenge. However, after reviewing this, I found that it may have broke a few rules, such as the fact that it isn't all that bright. But here it is anyway.


Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Redemption

In the empty white void of her dreams, Jaina Solo found her late twin brother, Jacen, once known as the Sith Lord Darth Caedus, standing before her. She knew that he wasn't just a figment of her imagination that was the result of her current slumber; this was the actual spirit of her brother visiting her in her most vulnerable.

"Jacen. What do you want?" Jaina asked.

"I wanted to see you again, Jaina," Jacen replied. His tone was absent any of the arrogance or anger that he had displayed while he was under the influence of the dark side. He actually sounded like the Jacen that Jaina knew prior to his five-year sojourn.

In spite of his genuine tone, however, Jaina's gut feeling told her that she still had to question him. "Really?" she asked, crossing her arms in judgment.

"Well, that's only one reason anyway," Jacen said. "The other reason is that I'm here to inform you of a great evil that threatens to plunge this galaxy into eternal darkness–one who will come about because of what I did in the last war."

Jaina's face was limned in skepticism. "Do tell," she said.

Then Jacen explained the existence of Abeloth, a being who resided in the Maw who was about to be unleashed because of a sect of Sith known as the Lost Tribe. "In about a month, Daala is going to exile Uncle Luke from Coruscant because of what I've done," he said. "He's going to try to find out where I went wrong. During their travels, he and Ben are going to come across the Lost Tribe of the Sith and Abeloth. I wouldn't have told you this if I didn't know that Ben will die."

"Ben is going to die?" Jaina asked. Her tone was still objective. "When? Where? And how?"

"A year from now, on the world of Upekzar," Jacen answered. "There, he will be killed by a Sith apprentice named Vestara Khai. She will have said that she becomes a Jedi apprentice, but she will still sacrifice others around her for her own survival. Please prevent this from happening, Jaina. And I don't think I have to tell you that this is more for Ben than it is for me."

"Why are you telling me this, Jacen?" Jaina asked. "Why do you care so much about Ben now after you killed his mother and for everything else that came after?"

"Because I want to atone for everything I did to the galaxy before I died," he replied. "I want to make up for what I did to you, Mom, Dad, Uncle Luke, Aunt Mara, our friends, and Ben. Especially Ben. I don't want him hating me for the rest of his life because of the evils I committed."

Jaina snorted. "It's a bit late for that. And besides, I doubt that a warning from you that might save his life will redeem him in your eyes, Jacen."

"Nothing's ever too late, Jaina. And you might be surprised once he stops living a life of hatred."

With that, Jacen disappeared in a white flash, and Jaina woke up from her dream.

~o~

One Year Later

Ever since Jaina received that message from Jacen, she never breathed a word of that dream to anyone, not even Jag. Considering that it was Jacen who spoke to her–Jacen, who, in the last year of his life, had committed various atrocities during the Second Galactic Civil War–Jaina doubted that even Uncle Luke would take the message seriously.

_Hell_, Jaina thought, _even I don't really take it seriously_. After all, it could have just been a last ditch effort on Jacen's part to manipulate the Jedi Order and the Galactic Alliance into some kind of galactic downfall in retaliation for almost everyone turning against him.

But then, a month after Jacen came to Jaina in her dream, Luke was exiled from Coruscant by Daala, just as Jaina's twin brother told her. She still decided not to say anything to anyone because, in spite of that frighteningly accurate prediction, Jaina still found Jacen's claim to be in question. Of course, that became less so after Abeloth and the Lost Tribe of the Sith's existence came to light because of Luke and Ben's retracing of Jacen's steps in his galactic sojourn. Jaina kept her feelings hidden still even after she met Vestara Khai, the Sith apprentice who joined the Skywalkers on Dathomir, and who decided to side with them against the Lost Tribe after she killed one of their High Lords, Sarasu Taalon.

After Luke declared that the Jedi were to move off of Coruscant, the fact that their first destination was Upekzar, the world where Jacen said that Ben would meet his doom, officially confirmed that everything that Jaina's twin brother told her was correct. And with Vestara having decided to become a Jedi apprentice, Jaina knew that she had to do something.

When Luke assigned Ben, Vestara, and Jedi Knight Natua Wan to explore the underground caverns of Upekzar, she interceded. "Master Skywalker, may I take Jedi Skywalker's place?"

"May I ask why, Jedi Solo?" Luke asked.

Jaina looked at the trio of Jedi who Luke announced would explore Upekzar's underground caverns. She then looked back to the elder Skywalker. "May I speak to you privately about this matter, Master?"

Luke nodded. He then led Jaina over to the corner of the Skipray Blastboat they were all in. Other than several other Knights and apprentices among them, Luke, Jaina, Ben, Vestara, and Natua were the only ones in the Blastboat.

"What is it?" Luke asked.

"Master Skywalker, I'm sure you have the utmost faith in apprentice Khai," Jaina said. "But given her time as a Sith apprentice..."

"I understand your concern, Jaina," Luke said. "You think that the dark side-infused environment of the caverns might cause her to regress back into her Sith nature."

"Uncle Luke, I don't think she's even turned to the light side to begin with," Jaina said. "I fear that she may take advantage of the opportunity of being with Ben and Natua, and kill them for the sake of her people."

Luke shook his head. "I felt her want to become a Jedi. I doubt that would happen. And even if she were still secretly a Sith, Jaina, I doubt she'd want to kill Ben at any rate."

"She may be fooling _herself_, Uncle Luke, into believing that she wants to be a Jedi. And while I don't doubt her feelings for Ben, I do doubt that it'll be enough to stop her from killing him at all. After all, if she can find an opportunity to sneak away from us and return to the Lost Tribe with proof that she killed a Skywalker, she would be considered a hero."

"Those are some pretty wild accusations, Jaina," Luke stated in a matter-of-fact way.

"Regardless, I volunteer to take Ben's place all the same," Jaina said. "I insist upon it, in fact."

Luke sighed. "If you really feel this way, Jaina, I'll allow it."

~o~

The confrontation with the Dream Singer in one of Upekzar's underground caverns ended with the death of Natua Wan, but Jaina and Vestara survived the ordeal to meet up with the rest of the Jedi Order after they left the caverns.

And throughout that entire confrontation, Jaina never did feel anything to indicate that Vestara had any ill intentions. For all she knew, Vestara really did want to become a Jedi, and she wasn't even deceiving herself in the process. Perhaps Jacen was wrong about her.

But then, Jaina had taken Ben's place in the caverns.

Now, a month after the Upekzar mission, the Jedi were freeing Coruscant from the oppressive clutches of the Sith and Abeloth. As for Jaina, newly promoted as a Jedi Master, she was piloting the _Rude Awakening_ down through the atmosphere of Abeloth's home world following a brutal dogfight against the Sith Meditation Sphere known as Ship. Luke was still beyond shadows fighting Abeloth much to Jaina's knowledge, and hopefully they weren't too late to save Ben or Vestara from a fate worse than death.

Upon landing, Jaina wasted no time opening up the landing ramp from the cockpit and rushing out to meet up with Ben and Vestara. "Are you two all right?" she asked at the bottom of the ramp.

"We'll manage," Ben said.

"We killed our avatar of Abeloth," Vestara stated as she nodded her head over to the debris-buried body of a Keshiri female nearby. "Hopefully, the others are gone by now, as well."

"How are you holding up especially, Vestara?" Jaina asked.

During the Jedi strike team's infiltration of the Temple back on Coruscant, Vestara had been separated from the rest of the team thanks to the initial Sith attack. She was chased down and eventually captured by the Sith forces pursuing her, where they intended to torture her for information as to what she revealed about the Lost Tribe to the Jedi. Jaina wondered what kind of tortures they racked upon Vestara during the team's few days trying to bring the Jedi Temple's shields down.

"Like Ben said, I'll manage," Vestara replied, sensing Jaina's thoughts. "One good thing I'll say about Abeloth is that she stopped the Sith from pulling off any real tortures when she decided to bring Ben and I here. The worst the Sith did to me, really, was just run me down."

"It's good to hear that's all they did," Jaina replied.

"Where's Dad?" Ben asked.

"You better come with me," Jaina said, leading the two teenagers back up the ramp and to the _Rude Awakening_'s medbay.

Jaina then left the two teenagers with the comatose Luke, and she rushed back to the cockpit to close the ramp and conduct a hull integrity test before she flew the _Awakening_ off into space. But once she stepped through the threshold of the cockpit, she stopped dead in her tracks, startled by the ethereal presence before her.

Jacen.

"Thank you, Jaina," he said with a warm, loving smile. "You've righted my wrongs when I couldn't. But most importantly, at least to me anyway, you gave Ben the happiness that could not have been given to him had you not interceded on Upekzar. And for both those things, I am eternally grateful... literally."

"You said that Vestara was still a Sith who was only pretending to be a Jedi," Jaina said. "From what Uncle Luke and I could tell, she's pretty genuine. Care to explain that?"

"You have suspected that Vestara maybe fooling herself into becoming a Jedi, yes?" Jacen asked.

"Yes."

"Well, that is the case, actually," Jacen said. "And within a few years, Vestara herself will come to see that. All you did, really, was simply delay that realization when you took Ben's place in the mission to Upekzar. But for now, I think it will be best if Ben were allowed those few years of happiness with Vestara, don't you think, Jaina?"

Jaina shook her head. "I don't think so, Jacen," she said. "This needs to be known, because as much as I don't wanna see Ben heart-broken over Vestara's self-duplicity now, I wanna see it less after he's had a solid relationship with her a few years from now. And Vestara must be taken into custody for her actions as a Sith anyway. She must answer for her crimes, whether she's deceiving herself or not."

"And she'll answer for those crimes when the time comes," Jacen answered simply.

Jaina narrowed her sight on the spirit of her dead twin brother. "You manipulated me, Jacen," she said. "You tricked me into giving Ben a few years of false happiness that will crash and burn on him if I let this go on. You think this will redeem him to you when his relationship with Vestara goes kaput? Because it's going to end sooner or later, and like I said, I prefer it sooner."

She then turned around, but ran into the form of Jacen's spirit again. "Please don't, Jaina, I beg of you," he said with desperation shining from his eyes.

Jaina stared back with defiance. "You know, I failed to see the delusion you were going through after that sojourn of yours, Jacen," Jaina said. "I failed to see how you were falling to the dark side in your last few years of your life. And I failed to see what kind of consequences it would have for Ben when he was allowed to be apprenticed under you. But I am not going to allow this to go on, especially since it's _you_ who's advocating for this to happen."

And with that, Jacen, with sadness and defeat in his expression, simply vanished as Jaina walked right through his form. Trotting to the medbay, she prepared herself to remove Vestara from Ben at all costs.

But when she arrived, the sight of Vestara holding Ben in her arms, comforting and consoling him as he leaned over his father's comatose form in concern for Luke's life, stopped Jaina from uttering a single word.

Jaina wondered then what was stopping her. But the next two seconds told her that she should at least let this scene play out. It certainly wasn't Jacen's voice from beyond the grave; it was her conscious.

It only took Jaina a few moments, but, after watching the display of genuine love and affection that Vestara felt for Ben, she realized that, in this instance at least, Jacen was right. Even if all this ended horribly for Ben, he should at least be allowed this comfort.

For now, at least.

~o~

It had been four months since the defeat of Abeloth, and one month after the Jedi were exiled from Coruscant because of the apocalypse she caused. The Order now knew that the galaxy was in greater peril than they realized, and it was up to them and, as much as she hated to admit it, the Sith to bring the Balance that the Force needed. They were to become the new Ones, and it would be difficult; but they had to make sure that Balance was maintained as much as possible, or Abeloth could return.

In spite of all this darkness, though, the candle of light that brightened Jaina's life was her newfound marriage to Jagged Fel.

The wedding had went perfectly, Jaina thought, and the honeymoon was even more spectacular. But now, about a week she was given with Jag, it was time for her to return to the Jedi Order, which was now relocated on Denon. She was given friendly and respectful waves of acknowledgement by her fellow Jedi of all ranks as she walked by to Grand Master Skywalker's office in the latest Jedi Temple. There, she would receive the assignment that Luke promised her over by comm while she had been entering the Denon system.

When Jaina walked out with her new assignment–which was to join Master Corran Horn to the Outer Rim in order to investigate the newborn rumors of a continued Yuuzhan Vong presence that had gone unnoticed since the end of the war against them–she noticed Vestara Khai walking alone off to the side.

Jaina figured that Corran could wait. She then walked over to Vestara. "Apprentice Khai."

Vestara stopped in her tracks. "Master Solo," she said with a gracious bow. "It is good to see you again. How was your honeymoon?"

"Pleasant," Jaina answered simply. "May I have a word with you?"

"Of course," Vestara replied with a modest nod. "What can I do for you?"

Jaina hesitated. Now that she had finally attained the chance to confront Vestara without risking any scrutiny from Ben, she didn't know how she could broach the subject that Ves was really fooling herself about her apparent want to become a full-fledged Jedi.

Instead, she came out with, "I just wanted to say that your time with us, with the Jedi, has made you into a great apprentice. At least, that's what Grand Master Skywalker tells me. You've become a terrific asset to us, and I hope that you will continue to hone your abilities in the light side. I have no doubt that in time, you will completely redeem yourself from the dark side." It burned Jaina inside to lie like that, and she hated herself in how cleverly she shielded that lie from Vestara.

Staring back with a mixed look of confusion and respect, Vestara nodded again. "Thank you, Master Solo. Your confidence in me is greatly appreciated. I do my best for the Order."

Jaina returned the nod. "And for Ben, too."

Without a change of expression, Vestara replied, "Yes. For Ben, too."

To Jaina, she might as well have said, _Yes. For Ben only_. But Jaina only smiled, still masterfully concealing her intentions from Vestara, and said, "Well, anyway, I have to go now, Vestara. You have a nice day."

With that, the two Jedi women parted ways.

_At least_, Jaina thought, _there is one thing that's true about Vestara: her love for Ben can't be questioned_. She took comfort in that. And with a genuine smile, she strode off to her next mission.

Ben would be with Vestara until the day she realized that she really was a Sith. And Jaina was fine with that; sometimes, the first partner in a relationship was never the one to be with in the long-run.


End file.
